Should Metro's Hard Mode Be Packaged as DLC?

Metro: Last Light's Ranger Mode is billed as "the way it was meant to be played", but its packaging as DLC is already causing controversy.

By IGN Staff

Metro: Last Light is out this week and has been picking up a very favourable critical reception so far, but its Ranger Mode - an HUD-less, more difficult mode that's billed as "the way it was meant to be played" on the official Metro website - is attracting controversy for being packaged as a pre-order bonus and DLC.

PC Gamer asked the game's product manager Huw Beynon at Deep Silver why Ranger Mode isn't a part of the game for everyone. "Game makers and publishers now live in a world where offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail, and Ranger Mode seemed like the best choice since it was a mode for hardcore fans who would most likely pre-order the game, or purchase it at launch in any case,” he says.

The studio refused to make retail-exclusive missions or other story-based content, it's claimed, and Beynon calls Ranger Mode a feature that hardcore fans will want for a second playthrough as opposed to an essential feature. But considering that this was a mode requested by fans of the original game, offering what the ad messaging calls "total immersion" and a much stiffer challenge, there are many who believe that it should be available to all players; the current Reddit discussion on the topic is pretty unequivocal.

With more and more pressure on developers and publishers to earn money on a game after it's purchased, and development costs fast turning what used to be an optional decision into an imperative, the question of what is and isn't fair to sell as DLC is only getting more important. An optional game mode is a smart solution - at $5/£3.99, Ranger Mode is hardly extortionate - but paying for a difficulty mode is not something that gamers currently expect.